Tofu hamburger

I've thought I should have more vegetable-focused diet. Today, I tried cooking Tofu hamburger.

Tofu hamburger doesn't includes any meat, but only Tofu (soybean curd) and lotus. Very healthy! Also very cheap!!

Tofu doesn't has so much taste of its own, so you can make and put your favorite sauce on it. I recommend Ankake or Teriyaki sauce for it, both are Japanese unique sauces.

Next time, I'm planning to making Bagna càuda sauce.

Drobox

I've been thinking that I should use "Cloud Computing" and finally I decided to do it.

First, I needed to decided which clouding service (for individual) I use. My blog and email is Google so I wondered if I should use Google Drive. Then I ended up using Dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com


I've installed it to my PC and smart phone. It seems to be nice. It's simple and easy to use.

Trend color??

According to an article, the trend color this year is "Monaco Blue."

Monaco blue?? I checked what kind of blue it is on the Internet.

Here it is;

Humm...
I wonder why it was named "Monaco" blue.




By the way, I visted a shrine today as usual New Year, I didn't do at the 1st this year though.

Kumano shrine with typical New Year's days' fine blue sky and skyscrapers

The challenge for my English is still strengthen listening..

The first transcript I use for my English learning in 2013 is about the Berlin Wall.

In the transcript, the phrase "the wall came down" appears some times. Even though I know what the speaker says, every time I hear it, I can hear it "the walking down", I listen to it many times though.

I'm now in a family restaurant. A non-Japanese father and son are sitting at the table next to me and they are speaking in English. I can't understand what they are saying, especially the boy's talking. Whew...

I wonder if he is around 5 -6 years old. He is very cute anyway!

Happy New Year 2013

I'm going to be focused on two things this year,

- To live a healthy and regular life
- To build my network of contacts

.;*~*;..;*~*;..;*~*;. I wish all of you a Happy New Year!! .;*~*;..;*~*;..;*~*;.

Godzilla's retirement

A baseball player, Hideki Matsui, aka Godzilla announced his retirement.

Whenever I am asked who I respect, I answer his name. I'm sad to hear his retirement.
He was not only one of the greatest players but a great person. Unlike arrogant Ichiro, he is very modest and loved by many people. Also he has strong mentality. I know him since he was a high school student. From that time, he was a great baseball player, and his mental was strong even though he was a teenager.

Here it is an article about him on the Wall Street Journal.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/12/28/japans-favorite-son-hideki-matsui-retires-from-baseball/


He was the fourth batter of both the top team in Japan "Giants" and the top team in the US "Yankees."

He won the MVP title for the 2000 Japan Series.

He won the MVP title for the 2009 World Series.

Climbed down the stairs from 25th floor

An evacuation drill took place at a building where my office is in the other day.

I climbed down the stairs from 25th floor. It would be easier than climbing up, but I heard that actually climbing down is tougher for muscle. In fact, I had muscle pain of my thighs. haha.

We were supposed to experience in an earthquake-simulation vehicle, but unfortunately, we couldn't due to breakdown of the car. What's a pity.

I experienced in a smoky room, which allow you to simulate walking in smoke of a fire. I couldn't see even 10cm ahead and was scared to walk forward. S, s, s, scary!!

New history of my career has started.

I have started working for a new company last week.

I'll do my best aiming to my career goal I've had.
I'm now thinking about having the other two blogs, one is about my job, writing about a path toward my career goal, and the other is about my goal in life, writing about a path toward creating situation where all children around the world can receive education.

Good Job, Japan!

The London Olympics has finished.
This time, Japan did really well. I think we heard the news about getting medals almost every day!

Judo team always got medals most, but this time, their results were not good. In spite of that, Japan won 38 medals which was the most in history for Japan!! WOW!

what always impresses me most is history/story which each athlete went through to get here.
new history/story has started for the next Olympics.
I should emulate their incredibly efforts toward their goals.

Japanese athletes in the closing ceremony

An athlete I have an eye on in the London Olympics

Like other world sports competitions, I often see something like good-looking athletes rankings. (good-looking guys rankings and beautiful women rankings.)

Among those, I noticed one guy, British diver, Thomas Daley, because he looked cute "boy" rather than good-looking guys. So I tried checking to see how old he is. Then I have come to learn history about him.

Many athletes have long deep histories, and so does he, I guess. He is still 18 years old though.

Surprisingly, he attended the Beijing Olympics too. Wow. He was 14 years old back then. Then, according to some articles, he became a hero in England. I wonder if it's like young equivalent to David Beckham.
However, after the Olympics, he was bullied in school and moved to another school. Terrible! It must have been tough situation.

His father died last year because of brain cancer. His father had been battling the disease for about 5 years. Oh, that means, he already suffered from cancer when Tom participated in the Beijing Olympics.

Going through bullying, father's battling cancer, father's death and so on, Tom is now in his home country Olympics.

He participated in two competitions, 10m synchronized platform diving and 10m platform diving.

Unfortunately, he missed a medal in the synchronized diving. After that, he was subjected to abuse via Twitter. The person who wrote "You let your dad down I hope you know what." was arrested.

The details are here;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2181189/London-2012-Olympics-Tom-Daley-blasts-Twitter-troll.html

Although such a terrible thing happened, he got a bronze medal in the 10m platform diving!!
Unfortunately, the diving competitions were not broadcasted on TV in Japan because diving is not popular sports here. (So most Japanese don't know of Thomas Daley.)
So I had to check the result of the competition on the website. I was pulsated when I saw the site. And I found he won the bronze medal!!!!!

His father must be very delighted and proud of him.

The details are here;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2187152/London-Olympics-2012-Tom-Daley-wins-diving-bronze.html

Tom biting his bronze medal

As long as I'm in Japan, probably I can't see him on TV and any news about him would never delivered to Japan, so I have to wait until the next Olympics.
See you in four year!

Cinderella girl!

In the London Olympics, Japanese athletes get medals one after another! Great!!
Usually, Judo team get medals most, but this time, Japanese Judo ended in not so good results. In spite of that, Japan got already 27 medals, which surpassed 25 medals in the Beijing Olympics.

Especially swimmers are great! They aimed to get 8 medals. Although an ace swimmer Kosuke Kitajima couldn't get any medal, Japanese swimmers got 11 medals!!

Satomi Suzuki.
She wasn't expected to get a medal, but in the end, she got 3 medals, one silver and two bronze.!

Satom Suzuki with a silver medal.

She is cute, isn't it?

Showbiz has already started aiming for her!

It's almost like playing with athletes' feelings.

In the Olympics this time, there are too many misjudging and re-judging. Each time, athletes are delighted or driven to the depths of despair.

All athletes had been trying hard to do everything in the past 4 years for the moment in the Olympics. So I think it's all too cruel.

For example, the men's gymnastics team final.
When all of them finished their performance, the fist place was , the second Britain, the third Ukraine, and the fourth Japan. The Ukraine team were very delighted to get a medal. However, Japan lodged a protest over the judgment. It took a long time for judges to make a decision. During that, all athletes showed an anxious look on their faces.

In the end, the judges accepted the Japan's protest, then Japan was in the second place, which means Ukraine missed a medal.
It was good for Japanese, but when I thought about the feelings of Ukraine team and their extreme efforts for 4 years, it broke my heart.

The first time x2 for Japanese in Olympics

In the first day of the London Olympics, following Hiroaki Hiraoka I mentioned in the previous article, two Japanese players got medals.

Kosuke Hagino won a bronze medal in the men's 400-meter individual swimming medley.
It's the first time that a Japanese swimmer get a medal in a individual swimming medley! Above all, he is still 17 years old!

Kosume Hagino with his fist in the air

By the way, Michael Phelps seems to be in very bad condition. He missed a medal and ended up in the fourth place. What happened with him?

Disappointed Michale Phelps

Next, Hiromi Miyake won a silver medal in women's 48-kilogram weightlifting.
It's the first time that a Japanese woman get a medal in weightlifting.

Hiromi Miyake lifting MUCH more heavier weight than her body weight

By the way, his father was a bronze medallist in weightlifting at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
And, I didn't know but her uncle got two gold medals and one silver medal in weightlifting at the Olympics.

Japanese first medal in the London Olymoics

Men's Judo - 60kg, a Japanese guy, Hiroaki Hiraoka won a silver medal, which is the Japanese first medal in the London Olympics.

He aimed at only a gold medal, and Japanese people expected him to get a gold medal, so he couldn't hide his shock.

Disappointed Hiroaki Hiraoka gives an interview

Getting a silver medal is really really great achievement, isn't it?

I saw a person who showed incredibly terrible behavior.
In the consolation match, an Armenian, Hovhannes Davtyan was being very exhausted. So he tied his obi (belt) loosely and whenever it came untied, he tried taking as much time as possible to retie it. Many times. Also, whenever a refree stoped the game, he lay down and slowed to stand up.
Hard to believe!! At least Japanese judo players never do such abject thing!

Of course, there were many booing in the competition site.

Judo put premium on spirit that technique. Learn the spirit first! The Armenian Judo federation doesn't know what judo is?
Shame on you!!


On the other hand, his opponent, a Frenchman, Sofiane Milous was commended for his refreshing by a commentator.
Although Hovhannes Davtyan showed such terrible behavior over and over again during the match, Sofiane Milous never showed any angry or upset look. He appeared to just concentrate on the match.

So I rooted for Sofiane Milous and he defeated Hovhannes Davtyan. Goody!

Unfortunately, he lost in the bronze medal match and couldn't get a medal. But he is still 24 years old. He is a promising young player.

The London Olympics has started.

Finally it has started.

I've always thought I should go to see an Olympics opening ceremony. And I pledged to go see the London Olympics opening ceremony when the Vancouver Olympics was held two years ago.

My article at that time
http://sandfriend.blogspot.jp/2010/04/im-going-to-see-opening-ceremony-of.html

I thought the same thing even four years ago when the Beijing Olympics.

http://sandfriend.blogspot.jp/2008/08/evaluation-of-beijing-olympics-by-other.html

However, I'm here in Japan now. haha...

Hopefully, Tokyo will be selected the host country for the 2020 Olympics and I will go!

One of the most impressed parts was the national anthem by the deaf and hard of hearing children.

It may be the greatest moment of a boy's life.

According to an article, a photo booth was set up in a shopping center in front of the Olympics center in the UK, and a surprise was prepared.

When people are taking pictures in the booth, a soccer player David Beckham pops his face round the corner and ask "Can I jump in?"

Everybody was VE----RY surprised. I realized that David Beckham is really the hero for all British.

The following video shows how they are surprised when they saw David. What impressed me the most was that a boy bust into tears!

The following article says about more about the boy. Cute!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177896/London-2012-Surprise-young-football-fan-poses-Adidas-picture-shocked-appearance-David-Beckham.html

The London Olympics Games is starting soon!

Exercising an emotional muscle "Gratitude"

It is often said that "gratitude" is very important for relationship in many kind of self-help books. I try to keep it mind but often forget.

I found an article, which says that  if you want to be successful, you need to feel more gratitude, and you can exercise your sense of gratitude like a muscle.

The article is here;

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/gratitude-true-secret-to-success.html


It seems to be how to develop positive thinking rather than how to develop gratitude.

Anyway, I try doing it.

The situation of orphans in Russia

I saw one article aobut Russian orphans. It showed their facial expressions, the difference between their facial expressions shortly after being taken care of their foster parents and ones several years after being in those family.


http://bigpicture.ru/?p=281292#more-281292
(Russian site)

The circumstance of the most orphans' homes is very bad. Most important of all, being loved is definitely necessary for children.



I've known that the situation of orphans' homes in Russia and countries of CIS is terrible. So after reading the article, I checked it again.

One article says that the number of orphans in Russia doesn't reduces at all, and the main reason is destruction of families. I think it's caused by immature country's measures.

In spite of that, Russia is planning to reduce the number of orphans' homes in the country dramatically, and provide foster parents with the many which was used for the orphans' homes. However, it's often the case that people become foster parents for money. Also some children are abused by foster parents.

The following photo is taken by TASS. I'm not sure but probably they are kids in an orphans' home in Russia.
Whenever I see children with such bright smile, I feel a pain, and I can't help hoping that they are happy and something which makes them unhappy never happens.

What is it I can do?

Speech by the minister of Central Tibetan Administration

A small speech by Ms. Dicki Chhoyang, who is the minister of Central Tibetan Administration (aka Tibetan Government in Exile), was held in a temple in my neighborhood.

The main topic is about the current situation of Tibet. There was nothing new for me. But what impressed me was her atmosphere. She looked peaceful, cheerful and calm, but she also looked dignified, like Dalai Lama.

EURO 2012 - too strong Spain

Spain won the EURO 2012.
The final game, vs. Italy was 4 - 0!!

Spain won the cup  three times in a row, EURO 2010, World Cup 2010 and EURO 2012. Incredibly strong--!!

I wonder what the reason is why Spain is so strong. What is the difference between Spain and England?

Spain team celebrating in the dressing room